Eighteen Scottish bands will join thousands of musical acts from around the world in Austin, Texas next month for the 2007 South by South West (SXSW) festival.

Fourteen bands will receive financial support from the Scottish Arts Council, providing them with the opportunity to perform and promote themselves to over 7000 music industry delegates from around the world. Three other Scottish bands taking part in the event; Mogwai, The View and The Fratellis, will be supported by their record labels and Jyrojets will be supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

SXSW is one of the largest music industry showcase and networking events in the world, featuring hundreds of artists and bands from around the globe performing on over 50 stages in Austin as well as a wide range of workshops and panel discussions featuring acclaimed industry speakers and an international trade fair.

The Scottish Arts Council has organised Showcase Scotland (in association with DF Concerts and PCL Concerts) a dedicated event on 16 March which will feature The Fratellis, Twilight Sad, Paolo Nutini, My Latest Novel, The Hedrons, Emma Pollok and Jo Mango. The Scottish Arts Council has also coordinated a Scottish presence at the British Trade Stand to help promote Scottish music to an international delegate audience and will also produce a CD of all the participating artists for distribution at SXSW.

In the weeks running up to the event there will be two Scottish gigs highlighting some of the bands performing at this years SXSW. The Road to SXSW gigs, a collaboration between the Scottish Arts Council, BBC Radio Scotland and DF Concerts, will take place in Glasgows King Tuts on 26 February and Dundees Reading Rooms on 2 March. The gigs will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotlands Vic Galloway Show on 12 March.

Ian Smith, Head of Music at the Scottish Arts Council said: The roster of bands invited to SXSW from Scotland demonstrates that our investment, both in burgeoning talent and in supporting the careers of already established bands is producing hugely significant results. Last year, Paolo Nutini and the Fratellis were almost unknown and now they are in the Top 10 UK album charts (as are The View) and will be returning to SXSW to perform at our dedicated showcase this year.

Dave McGeachan, DF Concerts added: DF Concerts are very pleased to be involved and working alongside the Scottish Arts Council for this years SXSW Scottish showcase and on the Road to South by South West with BBC Radio Scotland. Last year was a great event, and we are hoping that this years will be the most successful yet.

BBC Radio Scotland presenter, Vic Galloway said: I am delighted that we are playing our part in backing Scottish bands going to what I believe is the best gathering of new musical talent in the world. We were the first broadcaster from the UK to cover South by South West five years ago and plenty of others have followed since.

The two (Road to SXSW) gigs are fantastic opportunities for our listeners to get a taste of what Scottish bands will bring to the festival. I am looking forward to supporting as many of the bands as possible in the run-up to the festival on my shows and am very excited that The Road to SXSW gigs show such a wealth of homegrown talent.


The full list of Scottish bands taking part in this years SXSW is:

The Cinematics*

The Draymin*

Emma Pollock*

Errors*

The Fratellis

The Hazey Janes*

The Hedrons*

Jo Mango*

Jyrojets

Mogwai

My Latest Novel*

The Needles*

Paolo Nutini*

Popup*

Shitdisco*

The Twilight Sad*

Vashti Bunyan*

The View



*supported by the Scottish Arts Council to attend.